APCUG Monthly Newsletter

APCUG Monthly Newsletter

November 13, 2009

This is the first APCUG monthly newsletter to update all of our member user groups as to what is going on at APCUG and believe me there is a lot. Below is a list of the topics to be covered in this newsletter.

·         New Membership Database – PDF updates & Word document updates
·         APCUG Membership Early Renewal Contest with software prizes
·         Election
·         Magix Webcast
·         LiveMeeting training sessions
·         Windows 7 LiveMeeting
·         Upcoming APCUG Regionals – Both scheduled and tentatively scheduled events

Update on the APCUG’s new membership database:

Well, this PDF update process for the new membership database has really been a learning experience for all of us. A number of users had problems with this process, primarily because they didn’t have a full version of Adobe Acrobat or they were not using the latest Adobe Acrobat reader. No doubt, there were lots of other reasons why this didn’t work the way that it was originally envisioned.

Congratulations to the 2/3 of APCUG’s member UGs that have responded to my request but there are still some UGs that have not yet responded. Please respond by Friday, November 20, 2009. There are several things that are holding up the deployment of the new membership database and they are testing of the new online payment system and getting all of APCUG’s member groups to provide the basic information on their UG.

The CDB that we have been using is over 15 years old and is now prone to crashing on almost a daily basis. As a result, it is not possible to extract the data on your user group from the existing CDB. Once we get the new membership DB deployed, this will go a long way in automating the membership renewal process but I will talk more about that later in this newsletter.

There are three possible ways to submit your UG’s information and they are:

· Using the PDF update form that was previously provided

· Using the attached Word document or

· Cut and paste the fields into the body of an email message

APCUG still has to complete the testing process for all aspects of the new DB and then train APCUG’s advisors. But if your UG does not send in your information, then it will not be included in the new membership DB.

APCUG Early Membership Renewal Contest:

Every UG that renews their membership and it is received by APCUG by December 31, 2009, they those UGs will be entered into the early renewal raffle for a variety of software prizes that your UG can use any way that they see fit. This can include using the software as a raffle prize, or providing it to one of your leaders to enable them to do their UG job better.

The deadline for renewing is February 28, 2010 and if a UG has not renewed by then, they will have until March 31, 2010 before the UG will lose their APCUG membership benefits. Below is the URL for renewing.
http://www.apcug.net/membership/renewal_application.htm

If you renew using PayPal, please send an email to membership@apcug.net stating your name, and the full name of your UG. Currently, the only thing that is provided via PayPal is your name and the treasurer and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out which UG has renewed, if an email is not sent. Fortunately, this is but one of the problems, which will be solved by the new membership DB.

If you are going to send your check via snail mail to APCUG, then please use the correct snail mail address, which is
APCUG
P O Box 671294
Dallas, Tx 75367-1294

Birl Smith, APCUG treasurer has already received several checks but we were lucky to get one of the checks. Why? Because it was sent to the Las Vegas mail forwarding address, except the mail forwarder has moved to one of LV’s suburbs. So, please make sure that all sources for APCUG’s address are updated. The correct address is also included on the membership renewal webpage URL shown above.

Update on Upcoming APCUG Election:

The deadline for UG members to submit their names to stand for election to either the board of directors or the board of advisors was October 29, 2009. APCUG has a slate of UG members who have submitted their names to run in this election. This slate will be published on November 23, 2009 and UG members can go to SharePoint, http://sharepoint.apcug.net/ to see the biographical sketches on each candidate with the candidate’s picture.

If you have not registered on the SharePoint site, please encourage your UG leaders and members to click on the option “Create a user account”. It will take from 2-7 days for your account to be set up. This is because APCUG does not have any paid staff and the APCUG volunteers that handle this function also do a lot of traveling for their business.

The candidate bio’s and pictures will also be sent out in the December 6, 2009 mailing. Voting will end on December 14, 2009. The election committee consisted of Jay Ferron (director), Birl Smith (director) and Mitch Garvis (advisor).

Magix Webcast:

There will be a Magix webcast on Wednesday, January 18, 2009 at 9:00 PM EST (New York). Magix is one of APCUG’s regional sponsors and they are one of the leading producers of software for any kind of multimedia, which includes photos, graphics, videos, music, media and much, much more. Check out their website for more detailed information and then be sure to put watching this webcast on Magix on your schedule.
http://www.magix.com/us/

Live Meeting Training Schedule:

· The URL for the Live Meeting Training for November 16th (Monday) at 7pm EST, 6pm CST, 5pm MST, 4pm PST is https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=PB4S99&role=attend&pw=BJ%3AxW3C8k.

· The URL for the Magix for November 18th (Wednesday) at 9pm EST, 8pm CST, 5pm MST, 4pm PST is
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=KJ52S7&role=attend&pw=C-9c9%3D%23Pn

· The URL for the Live Meeting Training for November 21st (Saturday) at 4pm EST, 3pm CST, 2pm MST, 1pm PST is https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=836DGN&role=attend&pw=PtD%3F5%27%28%3Cc.

· Before you attend either you will need to have downloaded the client from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101733831033.aspx and checked to be sure it is working at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90703

Windows 7 Live Meeting:

The Windows 7 Live Meeting will be held on November 24, 2009 at 9:00 PM EST (New York). The URL for the Windows & Live Meeting for November 24 (Tuesday) https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=F8C4G7&role=attend&pw=p%23pG%2CZB9r.

APCUG’s Regional Meetings:

APCUG is co-sponsoring the following regional meetings with a local user group for each event.

· January 23, 2010 -- Computer Tech 2010 at Northwest Florida State College, Niceville, Florida
· February 19-21, 2010 – Phoenix Regional and APCUG Annual Convention

The keynote speaker will be Jay Ferron, who is an acknowledged expert on security, mobility devices and operating systems. His presentation will be on Windows 7. Jay has the following certifications ADSI, CEH, CWSP, CISM, CISSP, MCDBA, MCITP, MCSE, MCT, MVP, NSA – IAM and his blog is located at http://blog.mir.net/.

There will be both an end-user track and an IT Pro track. The end-user track will include lots of information on social networking (Facebook, LinkIn, etc.), genealogy, digital photography, etc..

The IT Pro track will include presentations on Windows 7, Disaster Recovery, Microsoft Server 2008 R2 and Social Networking for businesses.

In addition, there will also be a computer build event but the available seats are limited and there is an additional charge. So, if you have always wanted to build your own computer, now is your opportunity but you will need to register early to secure your seat.

Also look for the Linux Install event, and the Gamer event for all you gamers or want-a-be gamers.

If you are flying (or driving) in from out of town, the host hotel is the Clarion, which is just a couple of miles from the site of our meetings. The Clarion will provide transportation to and from the event site. In addition, both breakfast and dinner will be provided as part of your room fee.

The Saturday evening social is planned for Wild Horse Pass Casino, which is a high-rise hotel that just opened last week. So come join the fun and enjoy some warm weather in Phoenix.

The following regional meetings are tentatively scheduled, assuming that the local user groups complete the planning process and are approved by the APCUG board of directors.

·         March – San Francisco
·         April – Dallas
·         May – New York
·         June – Toronto, Canada
·         August -- Ohio

Keep checking the APCUG webpage, http://www.apcug.net/, for details of these and other APCUG meetings.

I hope that you found this newsletter both interesting and informative. Now, if you are interested in being involved and learning the latest technology, start by volunteering for your local user group and come join the fun. APCUG is here for the benefit of end-users, small business owners, developers and IT Pros. If your user group is interested in expanding their membership base, then you might want to consider expanding to include everyone, who is interested in being on the leading edge of technology.

Cheers,

Linda Moore
APCUG Secretary